Discuss the latest comic book news and front page articles, read or post your own reviews of comics, and talk about anything comic book related. Threads from the two subforums below will also show up here. News Stand topics can also be read and posted in from The Asylum.

Fans were turned off to comic books after experiencing true art in the form of George W Bush's portraits of world leaders.

Source: Diamond

The comic book industry suffered another crushing blow this month when sales continued to slump compared to the same time last year. Though Image Comics continued to hold onto an increased market share, capturing more than 11%, comics sales were down 11.83% (though graphic novel sales, where Image dominates, were up 22.85%). The slump this month is being blamed on today's opening of "The Art of Leadership: A President’s Personal Diplomacy" at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, TX. The event marks the first major public showing of art by the 43rd POTUS as well as strong new competition for fans of mainstream superhero comic books. For art-lovers seeking embarrassing, amateurish art created by out-of-touch white male manchildren, they can now choose between two equally attractive outlets: superhero comics, or George Bush's artwork.

"Fundamentally, there's barely any difference," explained Professor of Wacky Art Theories at the prestigious University of Phoenix, Thaddeus T. Puffinbottoms. "Except that the level of natural talent and understanding of basic anatomy is probably higher in George's work than in the work of someone like Humberto Ramos or Rob Liefeld." Puffinbottoms additionally praised Bush's lack of sexually exploitive cheesecake artwork featuring beloved female characters, and even a Hawkeye Initiative-like reversal of roles in the former president's nude self-portraits.

"They're an exact recreation of some panels from Catwoman #23," Puffinbottoms pointed out. "But with Bush instead of Selina. It's a brilliant commentary, and, dare I say, very alluring as well. Look how strong and empowered Bush looks in these. He's truly in control of his own sexual agency."

"That guy in the turban, I would give him an origin where he's falsely accused of being a terrorist due to a set of unfortunate coincidences where he accidentally steals a car with a bomb in it," commented ham-fisted and painfully un-self-aware DC Comics writer Geoff Johns, who used basically that same plotline to introduce Muslim Green Lantern Simon Baz. "Then we find out he's innocent all along. Boom! Not racist!"

Meanwhile, the sales of mainstream comics continue to decline, though Marvel did manage to swindle retailers into ordering 500,000 copies of this month's Amazing Spider-Man #1, which should not only boost sales on next month's charts, but also drive sales in the 25 cent bin comic market for decades to come. Here's the charts: